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Topic: Weight article (Read 6095 times)

Just came across this. It's interesting and does have some good points for both sides.

I really, really love this part, though:

"I think we need to take weight out of the health discussion altogether. Healthy habits are better determinants of health than body size. We need a system that leads to people actually liking their bodies, and therefore believing they are worthy of care. Any interventon that starts off with the idea that certain people’s bodies are wrong is automatically a poor public health intervention.”

I would say that so long as a person is happy with her body, how she treats it, and what it can do, fabulous. To the extent weight prevents a person from being happy with any of these, I think the weight issue can and should be addresses (yes, just like drugs or alcohol use). I find the perspectives interesting - not sure what affect labeling obesity as a disease will have, but I do hope people who are happy with their size remain happy and those who are not find ways to become happy, either through acceptance or changing habits.

I would say that so long as a person is happy with her body, how she treats it, and what it can do, fabulous. To the extent weight prevents a person from being happy with any of these, I think the weight issue can and should be addresses (yes, just like drugs or alcohol use). I find the perspectives interesting - not sure what affect labeling obesity as a disease will have, but I do hope people who are happy with their size remain happy and those who are not find ways to become happy, either through acceptance or changing habits.

I find it interesting that you jump to obesity when there is also another group that fits. What about eating disorders and compulsive exercises? Not all weight issues = overweight and unhappy. There's a large group of underweight and unhappy. Plus a lot of people in theisdle who have body image issues.

I would say that so long as a person is happy with her body, how she treats it, and what it can do, fabulous. To the extent weight prevents a person from being happy with any of these, I think the weight issue can and should be addresses (yes, just like drugs or alcohol use). I find the perspectives interesting - not sure what affect labeling obesity as a disease will have, but I do hope people who are happy with their size remain happy and those who are not find ways to become happy, either through acceptance or changing habits.

I find it interesting that you jump to obesity when there is also another group that fits. What about eating disorders and compulsive exercises? Not all weight issues = overweight and unhappy. There's a large group of underweight and unhappy. Plus a lot of people in theisdle who have body image issues.

I don't think TurtleDove "jumped" to anything. The title of the article is "Calling Obesity A Disease: Fat Acceptance Advocates Predict More Stigma".

Onyonryngs, you must have meant to post in a different thread? Your post makes no sense given the topic of this one.

Maybe I was a little overboard but it does seem that you tend to jump in on all posts related to fat = unhappy, thin = best self with points only mentioning overweight as unhealthy with no mention of other eating disorders or body dysmorphia issues. Not all thin people are are healthy or happy and not all overweight people are unhealthy or depressed.

Onyonryngs, you must have meant to post in a different thread? Your post makes no sense given the topic of this one.

Maybe I was a little overboard but it does seem that you tend to jump in on all posts related to fat = unhappy, thin = best self with points only mentioning overweight as unhealthy with no mention of other eating disorders or body dysmorphia issues. Not all thin people are are healthy or happy and not all overweight people are unhealthy or depressed.

Huh? Who said they were?

Interesting article, Dotty. I'd heard about the decision to classify obesity as a disease but hadn't thought through what that means for treatment.

I especially like and agree with this part of your quote : "We need a system that leads to people actually liking their bodies, and therefore believing they are worthy of care." I definitely find that to be true for myself. I get into cycles of exercise and feeding my body well, which makes me respect my body more, which makes me continue to exercise and eat well. And I get into cycles of the opposite - I feel gross, so I eat crap, so I feel gross. Getting myself to like my body is a key part of getting myself to continue with healthy habits.

One of the reasons I like that quote, Golly, is that I know there is a tendency for overweight individuals to avoid getting medical care even for non-weight things. Maybe this new thinking will change perceptions in the medical field that will keep doctors from creating an atmosphere where people are reluctant to see them and just get to a healthy state.

I'm torn on the classification. I can see the possibilities of things getting worse and the possibilities of there being some improvements in the medical field. It's going to be a hard battle to make sure this ends up being a benefit to society. But I think it could be done with some work.

But I do think we need to promote an understanding that it's not a number on a scale that matters. Nor a number on a dress. It's health. And if a person is healthy at 300lbs or 100lbs, that's the important thing to be focusing on. I know some overweight people that are amazingly more healthy than people much less their weight. (And vice versa.) That's what counts and what people should strive for.

One battle in that, though, (and a huge battle at that) is getting the medical profession to understand that.

If I walk in and the doctor says, "ohhhh, overweight. Bad Dotty. You're a failure" just because of the way i look or the number the nurse got when she did the weight in my Vitals, we haven't made any progress. Ok, doctor, did you actually check any lab results to determine that? How's my cholesterol? Oh, it's perfect? What's about my blood pressure? Terrific, you say? RBCs? WBC? Wow. So I'm wonderfully healthy? Oh, healthier than the 110 lb woman in here before me, you say*. Interesting. So what's the problem again?

* This could be any weight difference - be it high to low or low to high, of course

One battle in that, though, (and a huge battle at that) is getting the medical profession to understand that.

If I walk in and the doctor says, "ohhhh, overweight. Bad Dotty. You're a failure" just because of the way i look or the number the nurse got when she did the weight in my Vitals, we haven't made any progress. Ok, doctor, did you actually check any lab results to determine that? How's my cholesterol? Oh, it's perfect? What's about my blood pressure? Terrific, you say? RBCs? WBC? Wow. So I'm wonderfully healthy? Oh, healthier than the 110 lb woman in here before me, you say*. Interesting. So what's the problem again?

* This could be any weight difference - be it high to low or low to high, of course

To be fair to the doctor in the scenario you've just stated, the doctor could also be concerned about increased risk of arthritis in the knees, which frequently happens in overweight people. Or sleep apnea. Or an increase in estrogen (due to fat) that can also increase the risk for breast and uterine cancers. There's a greater chance of developing diabetes.

You can be healthy and overweight. You can be unhealthy and overweight. (Same for normal and underweight people.)

There are just specific ailments that are more likely in people who are over and underweight, and a responsible doctor will attempt to address that.

I'm not sure you completely understood my point. I didn't list out everything possible that could be a health issue; however, it was supposed to be assumed as there.

And a responsible doctor actually gets to know their patient (and their health) before making interesting assumptions based on first sight as someone walks in the door. Not to mention, has the ability to realize that weight (high or low) isn't the cause of every ailment - which is the cause of what I meant about the reluctance of many overweight people to get proper healthcare for themselves. I can't tell you how many colds I've had that have, somehow, been attributed to my weight (because thin people never get a cold?). At some point, you start feeling like going to the doctor isn't worth it - it gets weary to have a doctor never see you as a human instead of the weight.

That's what I'm hoping may start happening with this new designation. Maybe med professionals will start seeing the human. (I can dream anyway! )

You are very correct with this:

Quote

You can be healthy and overweight. You can be unhealthy and overweight. (Same for normal and underweight people.)

(I'm saying all this as someone whose (very extensive - covering things that aren't usually covered) blood work just came back as really great. And getting even better. I've lost 46 lbs as of last Tuesday! Yay! So those dang doctors really better realize that I'm doing good! But what I am fighting - with the help of the person assisting me in getting even healthier - is trying to focus on just that. She's desperately trying to help me see that the scale isn't what I need to be looking at. Nor my dress size. It's the internal part of me that needs to be fit and healthy - that's what ultimately matters.)

That's what I'm hoping may start happening with this new designation. Maybe med professionals will start seeing the human. (I can dream anyway! )

It seems to me like it will have the opposite effect, though. It seems like you want a doctor to ignore a patient's weight and instead test for specific diseases/health indicators. For example, you don't want a doctor to see a three hundred pound patient and automatically assume high blood pressure, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, bad knees or other joints, high diabetes risk, etc. You want them to actually find out whether those things are the case and, if not, there's no reason to harp about the weight. (please correct me if I'm misunderstanding)

But I would guess that now a doctor doesnt have to make the shortcut of obese --> higher risk of numerous diseases --> probably has a disease and should lose weight. Instead, they can just look at a patient and think obese --> that's a disease, should lose weight.

So I'm not hopeful that this designation will result in the things you hope for.

But I do like hearing people from the medical community saying things like the quote in your OP - that brings me hope that doctors will approach health and weight in a more body-positive manner and positive reinforcement style.